


'cause it hurts

by illrunwithyou



Series: please don't take my sunshine away [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Gen, Injury, Injury Recovery, M/M, Monsters, Songfic, They love each other, nico gets hurt, solangelo, they're boyfriends, will is his doctor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:13:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25511146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/illrunwithyou/pseuds/illrunwithyou
Summary: Nico goes to the infirmary and gets a boyfriend.-------Songfic with Alec Benjamin's 'Cause it Hurts
Relationships: Nico di Angelo & Jason Grace, Nico di Angelo & Will Solace, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Series: please don't take my sunshine away [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1848148
Comments: 4
Kudos: 82





	'cause it hurts

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own the lyrics to the song 'cause it hurts, all rights belong to Alec Benjamin. 
> 
> This is the first part to a three part series hehe. (Also, i know the name to the series is super unoriginal but just roll with it lol)
> 
> I wrote this in like a day so please excuse any mistakes. 
> 
> (the parts in italics and bold are the lyrics of the song btw)

_**I had a friend I knew in the ninth grade. And he didn't come to class one day. 'Cause they find something inside his brain so they sent him home.**_

“Will! Get over here quick! He’s losing blood fast!” Out of the corner of Nico’s eye he could see one of Apollo’s children cry out, motioning to, what he supposed, was her brother. 

“Gods, what happened?!” Nico knew he must’ve looked like quite a sight, claw marks all over his skin, and one particular wound where the monster had stabbed him with his horn. He honestly didn’t know what happened. He was just walking through the forest right outside of Camp Half-Blood, trying to find some wood that would be suitable for some project that Leo was working on when a monster had come out of nowhere. Without his sword, his one-on-one skills were tested. A couple swipes with the monster’s claws and Nico was staggering backwards, pinching his eyes closed and summoning some skeletons. They scared off the monster and had a few good hits on it, but in the monster’s daze, he struck him with his horn. 

Nico could only moan in pain and Will looked frantic, “Hey, hey, sweetie, stay with me, stay with me, I’m going to stop the bleeding, then move you to the----” His voice was so calming that Nico couldn’t help giving into the heaviness in his eyelids. 

_**So I went to see him after school. I said "Is there something I can do that might make you feel more comfortable?" And he told me "No". He said "I'm happy that you made it, please don't treat me like your patient. I don't need more medication,"**_

When Nico opened his eyes, the only thing that he could register was the blinding pain in his abdomen and on his chest. A hand pressed him back down on the bed. 

“Don’t worry, you’re safe now. We gave you some ambrosia and it seems to be working so far, but it will take at least for you to get better. Would you like some pain killers in the meantime?” The makeshift nametag pinned to her shirt read Andrea. He shook his head. She had a kind smile but not the kind that made him feel like everything was going to be alright, not the kind that he had seen right before he lost consciousness, but it was nice. She nodded and left. 

“Nico! Are you okay?” Will came over, checking his pulse, breathing, and all his vitals, jotting something down on his clipboard. Turning back with the brightest smile Nico had seen all day, “we’ve actually never met, but my name is Will. Will Solace.”

“Ah, my name is…”

“Nico di Angelo, I know.” Will winked and Nico could feel skeletal butterflies in his stomach. “Well, Mr. di Angelo, it seems that you will be fine, but only if you keep up the ambrosia and nectar schedule. Would you like some pain killers?” 

Nico shook his head again, “I don’t need more medication. I prefer to heal naturally.” Laughing, Will bowed and left.

_**The only way I know that I'm alive is 'cause it hurts, So anything that takes away my pain will make it worse.**_

Nico wasn’t getting better. It was baffling the healers. He was on his regular ambrosia schedule, he was taking it on time, and he was always taking good, sizeable chunks. It had been two weeks already yet he could barely stay awake for several hours at a time. 

“Nico.” Will waltzed by his bed, a normal occurrence for the healer, “Are you okay?” 

Hesitating and confused, Nico answered, “Yeah? Why wouldn’t I be?” 

“You haven’t been healing. We’ve been tracking your progress and for some reason you aren’t healing? You healed well the first couple days but afterwards, nothing has been happening, even though you have been taking your ambrosia regularly.” 

Nico shrugged and looked away, “Maybe it doesn’t work on me.” 

Will scoffed unintentionally, “But ambrosia cures all demigods, that’s why it’s so valuable.” 

“Well maybe it’s given up on me, and only me.” He looked away. He’d only known Will for a couple days and he had already seen him naked when he was dressing his wounds, he didn’t need to see him cry now. 

“Hey, are you okay?” Will put a hand on his shoulder that he shrugged off. Bowing, despite knowing that Nico didn’t see him, Will walked away, out of respect for Nico’s privacy. 

_**'Cause if I'm numb I might as well be underneath the dirt. The only way I know that I'm alive, that I'm alive is 'cause it hurts.**_

“Will, did you notice?” 

“Notice what?” He joined his sisters at the desk, reaching out to grab a pack of chips. 

“Nico has never taken pain killers.” Will’s hand stopped midway. “What?” 

“Whenever we ask if he wants something for the pain, he always shakes his head. I don’t know how high his pain tolerance is but gods, it looks like it hurts.” His sisters peered towards Nico’s bed and Will followed their gaze. Nico was sleeping, but far from being at peace. His eyebrows were pinched together, as if he saw something horrid, and his hand was hovering over his bandages. Every time his hand accidentally brushed the bandaged, he winced, eyebrows wrinkling even more. Sweat dripped from his forehead onto the white sheets, white sheets that were crumpled in his other hand as it held on for dear life. 

Will felt a pang in his heart. 

_**Is 'cause it hurts.**_

“Would you mind telling me why you do that?” Will was making his rounds and checking his vitals. 

“Do what?” Nico scowled at the sunlight that filtered into the infirmary. 

“Not take pain killers.”

“Don’t like them.” 

“But they take the pain away.” 

Nico paused, scowl deepening. A silence washed over them both but Will wasn’t in a hurry. In a small voice that he almost missed, Nico answered, “what if I like the pain?” Will must’ve looked stunned because Nico continued, “With painkillers, I can’t feel anything. It’s not just the pain I can’t feel. I can barely think on painkillers and that scares me because how would I be different from the dead?” 

Will’s eyes widened. “Every time I speak to the skeletons in the Underworld, they always tell me how nice it would be to feel pain again. They say everything just seems dull without pain. And it scares me because….down there,I feel like them, I-I can’t seem to feel much. If I can feel the pain, this pain, at least I know that I’m human. Can’t you give me that much?” Nico’s eyes were pleading. Unsure of what to do, Will brought the poor boy into his arms, this boy who gave too much and received too little, who couldn’t feel human unless he felt pain. 

Will cried himself to sleep that night.

_**And I won't forget the things he said. Every time I start to feel depressed. To be grateful that I still have breath down inside my lungs.**_

“Will, you need to heal him!” Will jumped out of his seat immediately and followed his brother. His heart dropped when he saw it was Nico, unconscious and moaning in pain. He shot a frantic look to his brother who answered quickly, “Monster came in last night, smashed the window, attacked him. Strangely, only him.” 

Revenge, for when Nico sent his skeletal army after it. He was running out of time. The injuries on the boy’s body had multiplied, old wounds reopening and new wounds settling in. Will put his hands on Nico’s injuries, eliciting a soft groan from the boy, and started healing. If he passed the prime time to heal, Nico could die. As soon as the thought came into his mind, he swatted it away because Nico won’t die, not on his watch. He could hear his own heartbeat.

Thump. 

Nico coughed up more blood, staining his face as well. 

Thump. 

Nico’s eyes fluttered in pain and he let out a small groan, turning his head and wrinkling his eyebrows. 

Thump. 

Nico’s breathing sped up and his body went still. 

Will swiped tears away from his eyes and put his hands back, focusing all his energy on his wounds. Slowly but surely, the wound started closing and Alex brought a damp towel, softly dabbing at the blood that had stained the boy’s pale skin. 

Nico’s eyes slowly opened, blinking in recognition at Will. Will threw his hands around him, careful of his newly healed wounds and sobbed, never wanting to let the boy go. 

_**'Cause without the darkness there's no light. And without the pain there'd be no life so, even when it hurts inside I won't try to run.**_

When Nico finally gets discharged, weeks after the attack, he was practically glowing with happiness. He had his freedom back. Jason had come to help him pack up the stuff in the infirmary and move it back to Cabin 13. The entire time, Jason was sharing stories about what had happened in the time that Nico was out of commission, the mission to track down the monster who had attacked Nico. They found the monster on the edge of the forest around Camp Half-Blood and Percy had approached it, sword-Riptide-held high. Somehow, though, his foot slipped and he face-planted in the mood. They shared a laugh over that, although it was more like Jason laughed and Nico cracked a small smile. 

Despite the smile only being a slight quirking up of his lips, Will could not have been happier. The most they had gotten when he was in the infirmary was a non-frown, which they had considered a win that day. Will looked back. The hollowed cheeks of Nico when he was bleeding out on the infirmary floor flickered onto the full, pale pink cheeks of the present Nico. Will quickly blinked that face away, the face that haunted him at night, the one that made Nico seem like the skeletons he so often hung out with. 

Shaking his head, Will knew that he only wanted to see the healthy, happy, glowing side of the son of Hades forever.

_**I'll be happy that I made it, I'll be open, I'll embrace it. I won't take no medication.**_

“Deathboy, what are you doing today?” Will slung an arm across Nico’s shoulders. 

“Stop calling me Deathboy.”

“Then...should I call you Sunshine?” Nico scowled but kept silent. Sunshine it is. 

“And, I was thinking of practicing my sparring.” 

“Need a partner?” 

“...you spar?” 

“Hey, just because I’m a son of Apollo doesn’t mean I only use bow and arrows.” Will laughed as Nico’s face flushed red, stuttering out that he didn’t mean it that way. Will only ruffled his hair and dragged him to the training area. 

Will, as Nico found out, was indeed fairly good at sparring, but not as good as him, Nico admitted as he smiled into his shirt. Nico was controlling all his moves to make sure he wouldn’t hurt him but one particularly hard jab sunk the tip of his sword into Will’s arm. He looked shocked, eyes traveling down to his arm where beads of red were already dripping down his arm and pooling in his palm. 

The previously-emotionless Nico freaked out as he saw the blood, eyes widening and hands going up to his arm. Will laughed as the son of Hades started stumbling over his words, asking if he should bandage it, if he feels dizzy, if he should get a healer, if he needs nectar, if he’s in a lot of pain. He narrowly stopped Nico as he was getting ready to run for a healer. 

“This is nothing.” Will couldn’t help but laugh again. Nico pulled his eyebrows together, in concern this time, and apologized profusely, looking near tears. 

They got him to the infirmary where Andrea took one look at her brother’s wound and started laughing while motioning for another sibling to bring bandages. “You should be more cautious, you are a healer after all.” Nico’s face automatically filled with guilt. “Will, here’s some ambrosia, would you like pain killers?” 

Will shook his head, nibbling on the block of ambrosia. Andrea nodded and left. 

“You should take the pain killers.” Nico sat on the bed next to Will, head still hung in shame. 

“Nah, you were right,” Will tilted his head to look into Nico’s eyes and the angle of his head made him look goofy so Nico lifted his head to meet his eyes curiously, “The pain’s nice.” Nico’s eyes softened.

 _ **The only way I know that I'm alive is 'cause it hurts. So anything that takes away my pain will make it worse. 'Cause if I'm numb I might as well be underneath the dirt. The only way I know that I'm alive, that I'm alive is 'cause it hurts.**_

“What happened?” Nico rushed to Will’s bedside as he lay there, still as a rock. 

“Will, stupidly, overworked himself and fainted. He should be fine when he wakes up though.” A child of Apollo informed him, adjusting the sheets on his bed. Nico nodded in understanding and pulled a chair over. 

Several hours later, when his eyelids were as heavy as his limbs, Will moaned and turned over on his bed. 

“Will, Will, can you hear me? Are you okay?” 

Will smiled, “I fainted, I’m not deaf.” Nico quickly muttered his apologies, standing up immediately. Will motioned for him to sit back down. “Ah, my head hurts.” 

“You should take painkillers.” Peering up at Nico, he shook his head. “Please, please Will, please take them. For me?” 

Will pondered for a bit, shaking his head in the end, “The pain feels nice.” Nico seemed to find his shoes interesting, keeping his head low, Will added on, “Besides, why would I need painkillers when all I need is right here?” Will took Nico’s pale hand.

 _ **Is 'cause it hurts.**_

“Alright Will, you are good to go.” Will nodded his thanks to his brother. 

He turned to Nico, who had been by his bedside for hours, “Nico, when I was unconscious, do you know what I was thinking?” Nico shook his head, unspeakably tired. 

“I had a dream that I was with you. It was the happiest moment of my life.” Will took his hand. “Can you make that true every day?” 

Completely out of it, Nico was confused, “What?” 

“Nico, would you be my boyfriend?” 

Later, Jason found them sparring. He was just about to bother them when instead of sticking out a sword, Will lunged and tackled Nico to the ground. They rolled over giggling then just stayed there, Nico held close in Will’s chest. Will leaned down and whispered in his ear. 

“You are my sunshine.”

**Author's Note:**

> It took me over a year to realize i could add notes to the end too. Wow I'm dumb.
> 
> Also i read the series like forever ago and I never read trials of apollo so sorry if anything isnt canon.


End file.
